We were running late, so we sent Ellie in to save our seats. She was a much better "early riser" than we were! The line was incredibly long, so it was after 10am when we finally got to our seats and managed to start getting unpacked. This year's extravaganza was the first big crop that Ellie, Amanda and Libby had ever attended, so they were impressed, as were Karen and I! The Scrapbook Attic, our local store, had set up everything just right for a 1970's shindig! There was a huge stage with tie died columns and flowers everywhere. I loved it!
We sat down and started cropping, but for some reason I just could not get "in the zone". Karen and Ellie were tearing it UP! They both managed to get several layouts done before lunch time! After eating our frugal lunch of sandwiches and cokes that we brought from home we cropped until about 5pm. In an effort to save money, I made a big pot of chili for everyone to share. We went to my house for a short break and had some supper, but didn't stay long... We were too eager to get our hands back in the paper and tape! The night ended about 1am, and we all headed home to crash into bed. We knew Saturday would be an early morning!
We all headed to the fairgrounds around 7:30am so we could get there with plenty of time to set up our tables for the 8am classes. That was the biggest thrill of the whole crop! We took nine classes between the hours of 8am and 5pm. All of the classes were double page layouts. I loved most of them, and actually managed to get pictures on some of them, too! I was proud of myself!
Ellie and I also entered the costume contest. I wore a pair of pants that my Meema made back in the 1970's. She actually WORE those things! They were ugly, but I got a lot of compliments on them! I made a green fur vest with yellow pom-pom trim. It was truly ugly, too, but it worked with the pants. Ellie dressed up as the perfect hippie! She had on a brown tie-dyed maxi skirt with a denim vest and a LOOONNNGGG straight blonde wig. She wore flowers in her hair and HUGE round sunglasses. The best part was her "protest" sign. It said, "MAKE SCRAPBOOKS, NOT WAR". It was awesome! Ellie actually ended up in the top two finalists in the early costume contest. I was thrilled for her! They did another one that night, and though she was in the top two again, she didn't get number one. The person who beat her was cute, but I thought Ellie looked way better!
After the classes were over we headed out to Mi Ranchito for dinner and then went back for the crop party. Due to our dinner being delayed, we missed the evening door prizes, which was a disappointment to everyone, but we did get back into cropping mode. I ended up with thirteen finished double page layouts. That isn't as much as I usually do, but it was OK. I got quite a bit done in Reese's 2008 book and some done in the 2009 books for both girls.
The girls and I are already asking, "When is the next one?!?" We can't wait to go back! Look out scrapbook world, here we come!
P.S. To all of my readers: The girls and I are trying to come up with a name for our group so that we can have t-shirts made to wear to the next crop. I've seen everything from "The Paper Sluts" to "Team Scrap" to just about anything else. I need new, original ideas! Help me out!
